150 The Sociology of Education

The sociological imagination helps one understand what is and what can be when one tries
to imagine schools and school systems that meet the challenges that are facing today’s children
and young adults. The current educational crisis is complex, and solutions to the pressing problems
are difficult to find. But people should not despair; we need to begin the work of reconstructing
U.S. education. Sociologists ask the tough questions about schools and they search for answers
by collecting data. Sometimes the data support preconceived beliefs, sometimes they do not. In
either case, sociologists are committed to finding out the truth about the relationship between
school and society, and it is this truth-seeking activity that is most likely to lead to meeting the
challenges facing education today.

The following selections illustrate the sociological imagination applied to educational problems.
The articles address important issues concerning the relationship between school and society and
illustrate Persell’s model of the levels of sociological analysis. The first article, “The School Class
as a Social System: Some of Its Functions in American Society,” by the late sociologist Talcott
Parsons provides the classic statement of the functionalist theory of education.
The second selection, written by sociologist Ray C. Rist, “On Understanding the Processes of
Schooling: The Contributions of Labeling Theory,” provides an illustration of the interpretive
or interactionist perspective. Rist demonstrates how labeling theory provides a useful tool for
understanding what goes on inside schools. The interactionist perspective, as Rist suggests, is an
alternative to the more structural approaches of functionalism and conflict theory.
The third selection, “The Politics of Culture: Understanding Local Political Resistance to
Detracking in Racially Mixed Schools,” written by sociologists Amy Stuart Wells and Irene Serna,
examines how affluent parents resist detracking policies. This article illustrates the ways in which
conflict theory and interaction theory, used together, help us understand how power and privilege
affect school practices and policies.

The School Class as a Social System: Some

of Its Functions in American Society*
Talcott Parsons

This essay will attempt to outline, if only sketch- upper elementary grades, the pupil works on
ily, an analysis of the elementary and secondary different subjects under different teachers; here
school class as a social system, and the relation the complex of classes participated in by the same
of its structure to its primary functions in the pupil is the significant unit for our purposes.
society as an agency of socialization and allo-
cation. While it is important that the school class
The Problem: Socialization and
is normally part of the larger organization of a
Selection
school, the class rather than the whole school will
be the unit of analysis here, for it is recognized Our main interest, then, is in a dual problem: first
both by the school system and by the individual of how the school class functions to internal-
pupil as the place where the “business” of formal ize in its pupils both the commitments and
education actually takes place. In elementary capacities for successful performance of their
schools, pupils of one grade are typically placed future adult roles, and second of how it functions
in a single “class” under one main teacher, but in to allocate these human resources within the
the secondary school, and sometimes in the role-structure of the adult society. The primary
 The Sociology of Education 151

ways in which these two problems are inter- it is, from the point of view of the society, an
related will provide our main points of reference. agency of “manpower” allocation. It is well
First, from the functional point of view the known that in American society there is a very
school class can be treated as an agency of social- high, and probably increasing, correlation
ization. That is to say, it is an agency through between one’s status level in the society and
which individual personalities are trained to be one’s level of educational attainment. Both
motivationally and technically adequate to the social status and educational level are obviously
performance of adult roles. It is not the sole such related to the occupational status which is
agency; the family, informal “peer groups,” attained. Now, as a result of the general process
churches, and sundry voluntary organizations all of both educational and occupational upgrad-
play a part, as does actual on-the-job training. ing, completion of high school is increasingly
But, in the period extending from entry into first coming to be the norm for minimum satisfactory
grade until entry into the labor force or marriage, educational attainment, and the most significant
the school class may be regarded as the focal line for future occupational status has come to be
socializing agency. drawn between members of an age-cohort who
The socialization function may be summed up do and do not go to college.
as the development in individuals of the com- We are interested, then, in what it is about the
mitments and capacities which are essential school class in our society that determines the
prerequisites of their future role-performance. distinction between the contingents of the age-
Commitments may be broken down in turn into cohort which do and do not go to college.
two components: commitment to the imple- Because of a tradition of localism and a rather
mentation of the broad values of society, and pragmatic pluralism, there is apparently consider-
commitment to the performance of a specific type able variety among school systems of various cities
of role within the structure of society. Thus a and states. Although the situation in metro-
person in a relatively humble occupation politan Boston probably represents a more highly
may be a “solid citizen” in the sense of commit- structured pattern than in many other parts of the
ment to honest work in that occupation, without country, it is probably not so extreme as to be
an intensive and sophisticated concern with the misleading in its main features. There, though of
implementation of society’s higher-level values. course actual entry into college does not come
Or conversely, someone else might object to the until after graduation from high school, the
anchorage of the feminine role in marriage and main dividing line is between those who are and
the family on the grounds that such anchorage are not enrolled in the college preparatory course
keeps society’s total talent resources from being in high school; there is only a small amount of
distributed equitably to business, government, shifting either way after about the ninth grade
and so on. Capacities can also be broken down when the decision is normally made. Further-
into two components, the first being competence more, the evidence seems to be that by far the
or the skill to perform the tasks involved in the most important criterion of selection is the
individual’s roles, and the second being “role- record of school performance in elementary
responsibility” or the capacity to live up to other school. These records are evaluated by teachers
people’s expectations of the interpersonal and principals, and there are few cases of entering
behavior appropriate to these roles. Thus a the college preparatory course against their
mechanic as well as a doctor needs to have not advice. It is therefore not stretching the evidence
only the basic “skills of his trade,” but also the too far to say broadly that the primary selective
ability to behave responsibly toward those people process occurs through differential school
with whom he is brought into contact in his work. performance in elementary school, and that the
While on the one hand, the school class “seal” is put on it in junior high school.1
may be regarded as a primary agency by which The evidence also is that the selective pro-
these different components of commitments cess is genuinely assortative. As in virtually all
and capacities are generated, on the other hand, comparable processes, ascriptive as well as
152 The Sociology of Education

achieved factors influence the outcome. In this is the child’s first major step out of primary
case, the ascriptive factor is the socio-economic involvement in his family of orientation. Within
status of the child’s family, and the factor under- the family certain foundations of his motivatio-
lying his opportunity for achievement is his nal system have been laid down. But the only
individual ability. In the study of 3,348 Boston characteristic fundamental to later roles which
high school boys on which these generalizations has clearly been “determined” and psycho-
are based, each of these factors was quite highly logically stamped in by that time is sex role. The
correlated with planning college. For example, postoedipal child enters the system of formal
the percentages planning college, by father’s education clearly categorized as boy or girl, but
occupation, were: 12 per cent for semi-skilled beyond that his role is not yet differentiated. The
and unskilled, 19 per cent for skilled, 26 per cent process of selection, by which persons will select
for minor white collar, 52 per cent for middle and be selected for categories of roles, is yet to
white collar, and 80 per cent for major white take place.
collar. Likewise, intentions varied by ability On grounds which cannot be gone into here,
(as measured by IQ), namely, 11 per cent for the it may be said that the most important single
lowest quintile, 17 per cent for the next, 24 per predispositional factor with which the child
cent for the middle, 30 per cent for the next enters the school is his level of independence. By
to the top, and 52 per cent for the highest. It this is meant his level of self-sufficiency relative
should be noted also that within any ability to guidance by adults, his capacity to take res-
quintile, the relationship of plans to father’s ponsibility and to make his own decisions in
occupation is seen. For example, within the very coping with new and varying situations. This,
important top quintile in ability as measured, the like his sex role, he has as a function of his
range in college intentions was from 29 per cent experience in the family.
for sons of laborers to 89 per cent for sons of The family is a collectivity within which the
major white collar persons.2 basic status-structure is ascribed in terms of
The essential points here seem to be that biological position, that is, by generation,
there is a relatively uniform criterion of selection sex, and age. There are inevitably differences
operating to differentiate between the college of performance relative to these, and they are
and the non-college contingents, and that for a rewarded and punished in ways that contribute
very important part of the cohort the operation to differential character formation. But these
of this criterion is not a “put-up job”—it is not differences are not given the sanction of insti-
simply a way of affirming a previously determined tutionalized social status. The school is the first
ascriptive status. To be sure, the high-status, socializing agency in the child’s experience
high-ability boy is very likely indeed to go to which institutionalizes a differentiation of status
college, and the low-status, low-ability boy is very on nonbiological bases. Moreover, this is not an
unlikely to go. But the “cross-pressured” group for ascribed but an achieved status; it is the status
whom these two factors do not coincide3 is of “earned” by differential performance of the
considerable importance. tasks set by the teacher, who is acting as an agent
Considerations like these lead me to conclude of the community’s school system. Let us look at
that the main process of differentiation (which the structure of this situation.
from another point of view is selection) that
occurs during elementary school takes place
The Structure of the Elementary
on a single main axis of achievement. Broadly,
School Class
moreover, the differentiation leads up through
high school to a bifurcation into college-goers In accord with the generally wide variability
and non-college-goers. of American institutions, and of course the
To assess the significance of this pattern, let basically local control of school systems, there
us look at its place in the socialization of the indi- is considerable variability of school situations,
vidual. Entering the system of formal education but broadly they have a single relatively well-
 The Sociology of Education 153

marked framework.4 Particularly in the primary important kind of variation is that between
part of the elementary grades, i.e., the first three relatively “traditional” schools and relatively
grades, the basic pattern includes one main “progressive” schools. The more traditional
teacher for the class, who teaches all subjects and schools put more emphasis on discrete units of
who is in charge of the class generally. Some- subject-matter, whereas the progressive type
times this early, and frequently in later grades, allows more “indirect” teaching through
other teachers are brought in for a few special “projects” and broader topical interests where
subjects, particularly gym, music, and art, but this more than one bird can be killed with a stone.
does not alter the central position of the main In progressive schools there is more emphasis on
teacher. This teacher is usually a woman.5 The groups of pupils working together, compared to
class is with this one teacher for the school year, the traditional direct relation of the individual
but usually no longer. pupil to the teacher. This is related to the pro-
The class, then, is composed of about 25 age- gressive emphasis on co-operation among the
peers of both sexes drawn from a relatively small pupils rather than direct competition, to greater
geographical area—the neighborhood. Except permissiveness as opposed to strictness of dis-
for sex in certain respects, there is initially no cipline, and to a de-emphasis on formal marking.6
formal basis for differentiation of status within In some schools one of these components will be
the school class. The main structural differ- more prominent, and in others, another. That
entiation develops gradually, on the single main it is, however, an important range of variation
axis indicated above as achievement. That the is clear. It has to do, I think, very largely with the
differentiation should occur on a single main independence-dependence training which is
axis is insured by four primary features of the so important to early socialization in the family.
situation. The first is the initial equalization My broad interpretation is that those people
of the “contestants’” status by age and by “family who emphasize independence training will tend
background,” the neighborhood being typically to be those who favor relatively progressive
much more homogeneous than is the whole education. The relation of support for progressive
society. The second circumstance is the imposi- education to relatively high socio-economic
tion of a common set of tasks which is, compared status and to “intellectual” interests and the like
to most other task-areas, strikingly undiffer- is well known. There is no contradiction between
entiated. The school situation is far more like a these emphases both on independence and on
race in this respect than most role-performance co-operation and group solidarity among pupils.
situations. Third, there is the sharp polarization In the first instance this is because the main focus
between the pupils in their initial equality and of the independence problem at these ages is
the single teacher who is an adult and “represents” vis-à-vis adults. However, it can also be said
the adult world. And fourth, there is a relatively that the peer group, which here is built into the
systematic process of evaluation of the pupils’ school class, is an indirect field of expression of
performances. From the point of view of a dependency needs, displaced from adults.
pupil, this evaluation, particularly (though not The second set of qualifications concerns the
exclusively) in the form of report card marks, “informal” aspects of the school class, which are
constitutes reward and/or punishment for past always somewhat at variance with the formal
performance; from the viewpoint of the school expectations. For instance, the formal pattern of
system acting as an allocating agency, it is a basis nondifferentiation between the sexes may be
of selection for future status in society. modified informally, for the very salience of the
Two important sets of qualifications need to one-sex peer group at this age period means that
be kept in mind in interpreting this structural there is bound to be considerable implicit recog-
pattern, but I think these do not destroy the signi- nition of it—for example, in the form of teachers’
ficance of its main outline. The first qualification encouraging group competition between boys and
is for variations in the formal organization and girls. Still, the fact of coeducation and the
procedures of the school class itself. Here the most attempt to treat both sexes alike in all the crucial
154 The Sociology of Education

formal respects remain the most important. may, as was mentioned earlier, be broken down
Another problem raised by informal organization into two main components. One of these is the
is the question of how far teachers can and more purely “cognitive” learning of information,
do treat pupils particularistically in violation of skills, and frames of reference associated with
the universalistic expectations of the school. empirical knowledge and technological mastery.
When compared with other types of formal The written language and the early phases of
organizations, however, I think the extent of this mathematical thinking are clearly vital; they
discrepancy in elementary schools is seen to be involve cognitive skills at altogether new levels
not unusual. The school class is structured so that of generality and abstraction compared to those
opportunity for particularistic treatment is commanded by the pre-school child. With these
severely limited. Because there are so many more basic skills goes assimilation of much factual
children in a school class than in a family and they information about the world.
are concentrated in a much narrower age range, The second main component is what may
the teacher has much less chance than does a broadly be called a “moral” one. In earlier gener-
parent to grant particularistic favors. ations of schooling this was known as “deport-
Bearing in mind these two sets of quali- ment.” Somewhat more generally it might be
fications, it is still fair, I think, to conclude that called responsible citizenship in the school
the major characteristics of the elementary community. Such things as respect for the
school class in this country are such as have been teacher, consideration and co-operativeness in
outlined. It should be especially emphasized that relation to fellow-pupils, and good “work-habits”
more or less progressive schools, even with their are the fundamentals, leading on to capacity for
relative lack of emphasis on formal marking, do “leadership” and “initiative.”
not constitute a separate pattern, but rather a The striking fact about this achievement
variant tendency within the same pattern. A content is that in the elementary grades these
progressive teacher, like any other, will form two primary components are not clearly dif-
opinions about the different merits of her pupils ferentiated from each other. Rather, the pupil is
relative to the values and goals of the class and evaluated in diffusely general terms; a good pupil
will communicate these evaluations to them, is defined in terms of a fusion of the cognitive and
informally if not formally. It is my impression the moral components, in which varying weight
that the extremer cases of playing down relative is given to one or the other. Broadly speaking,
evaluation are confined to those upper-status then, we may say that the “high achievers” of the
schools where going to a “good” college is so fully elementary school are both the “bright” pupils,
taken for granted that for practical purposes it is who catch on easily to their more strictly
an ascribed status. In other words, in interpreting intellectual tasks, and the more “responsible”
these facts the selective function of the school pupils, who “behave well” and on whom the
class should be kept continually in the forefront teacher can “count” in her difficult problems of
of attention. Quite clearly its importance has not managing the class. One indication that this is
been decreasing; rather the contrary. the case is the fact that in elementary school the
purely intellectual tasks are relatively easy for the
pupil of high intellectual ability. In many such
The Nature of School Achievement
cases, it can be presumed that the primary
What, now, of the content of the “achievement” challenge to the pupil is not to his intellectual,
expected of elementary school children? Perhaps but to his “moral,” capacities. On the whole, the
the best broad characterization which can be progressive movement seems to have leaned in
given is that it involves the types of performance the direction of giving enhanced emphasis to this
which are, on the one hand, appropriate to the component, suggesting that of the two, it has
school situation and, on the other hand, are felt tended to become the more problematical.7
by adults to be important in themselves. This The essential point, then, seems to be that
vague and somewhat circular characterization the elementary school, regarded in the light of
 The Sociology of Education 155

its socialization function, is an agency which activities; and to the school, on the other hand,
differentiates the school class broadly along a in that play periods and going to and from school
single continuum of achievement, the content of provide occasions for informal association, even
which is relative excellence in living up to the though organized extracurricular activities are
expectations imposed by the teacher as an agent introduced only later. Ways of bringing some
of the adult society. The criteria of this achieve- of this activity under another sort of adult
ment are, generally speaking, undifferentiated supervision are found in such organizations as the
into the cognitive or technical component and boy and girl scouts.
the moral or “social” component. But with res- Two sociological characteristics of peer groups
pect to its bearing on societal values, it is broadly at this age are particularly striking. One is the
a differentiation of levels of capacity to act in fluidity of their boundaries, with individual
accord with these values. Though the relation is children drifting into and out of associations. This
far from neatly uniform, this differentiation element of “voluntary association” contrasts
underlies the processes of selection for levels of strikingly with the child’s ascribed membership
status and role in the adult society. in the family and the school class, over which he
Next, a few words should be said about the has no control. The second characteristic is the
out-of-school context in which this process goes peer group’s sharp segregation by sex. To a
on. Besides the school class, there are clearly two striking degree this is enforced by the children
primary social structures in which the child themselves rather than by adults.
participates: the family and the child’s informal The psychological functions of peer asso-
“peer group.” ciation are suggested by these two characteris-
tics. On the one hand, the peer group may be
regarded as a field for the exercise of inde-
Family and Peer Group in
pendence from adult control; hence it is not
Relation to the School Class
surprising that it is often a focus of behavior
The school age child, of course, continues to live which goes beyond independence from adults to
in the parental household and to be highly the range of adult-disapproved behavior; when
dependent, emotionally as well as instrument- this happens, it is the seed bed from which the
ally, on his parents. But he is now spending extremists go over into delinquency. But another
several hours a day away from home, subject to very important function is to provide the child
a discipline and a reward system which are a source of non-adult approval and acceptance.
essentially independent of that administered by These depend on “technical” and “moral”
the parents. Moreover, the range of this inde- criteria as diffuse as those required in the school
pendence gradually increases. As he grows older, situation. On the one hand, the peer group is a
he is permitted to range further territorially with field for acquiring and displaying various types of
neither parental nor school supervision, and to “prowess”; for boys this is especially the physical
do an increasing range of things. He often gets prowess which may later ripen into athletic
an allowance for personal spending and begins to achievement. On the other hand, it is a matter
earn some money of his own. Generally, how- of gaining acceptance from desirable peers as
ever, the emotional problem of dependence– “belonging” in the group, which later ripens into
independence continues to be a very salient one the conception of the popular teen-ager, the
through this period, frequently with manifest- “right guy.” Thus the adult parents are aug-
ations by the child of compulsive independence. mented by age-peers as a source of rewards for
Concomitantly with this, the area for asso- performance and of security in acceptance.
ciation with age-peers without detailed adult The importance of the peer group for
supervision expands. These associations are tied socialization in our type of society should be
to the family, on the one hand, in that the home clear. The motivational foundations of character
and yards of children who are neighbors and the are inevitably first laid down through identi-
adjacent streets serve as locations for their fication with parents, who are generation-
156 The Sociology of Education

superiors, and the generation difference is a type to please the teacher (often backed by the
example of a hierarchical status difference. But parents) in the same sense in which a pre-oedipal
an immense part of the individual’s adult role child learns new skills in order to please his
performance will have to be in association with mother.
status-equals or near-equals. In this situation it In this connection I maintain that what is
is important to have a reorganization of the internalized through the process of identification
motivational structure so that the original is a reciprocal pattern of role-relationships.8
dominance of the hierarchical axis is modified to Unless there is a drastic failure of internalization
strengthen the egalitarian components. The peer altogether, not just one, but both sides of the
group plays a prominent part in this process. interaction will be internalized. There will,
Sex segregation of latency period peer groups however, be an emphasis on one or the other, so
may be regarded as a process of reinforcement that some children will more nearly identify with
of sex-role identification. Through intensive the socializing agent, and others will more
association with sex-peers and involvement in nearly identify with the opposite role. Thus, in
sex-typed activities, they strongly reinforce the pre-oedipal stage, the “independent” child
belongingness with other members of the same has identified more with the parent, and the
sex and contrast with the opposite sex. This is the “dependent” one with the child-role vis-à-vis
more important because in the coeducational the parent.
school a set of forces operates which specifically In school the teacher is institutionally defined
plays down sex-role differentiation. as superior to any pupil in knowledge of curri-
It is notable that the latency period sex-role culum subject-matter and in responsibility as a
pattern, instead of institutionalizing relations good citizen of the school. In so far as the school
to members of the opposite sex, is characterized class tends to be bifurcated (and of course the
by an avoidance of such relations, which only in dichotomization is far from absolute), it will
adolescence gives way to dating. This avoidance broadly be on the basis, on the one hand, of
is clearly associated with the process of reorgan- identification with the teacher, or acceptance of
ization of the erotic components of motivational her role as a model; and, on the other hand, of
structure. The pre-oedipal objects of erotic identification with the pupil peer group. This
attachment were both intra-familial and bifurcation of the class on the basis of identi-
generation-superior. In both respects there must fication with teacher or with peer group so
be a fundamental shift by the time the child strikingly corresponds with the bifurcation into
reaches adulthood. I would suggest that one of college-goers and non-college-goers that it would
the main functions of the avoidance pattern is to be hard to avoid the hypothesis that this
help cope with the psychological difficulty of structural dichotomization in the school system
overcoming the earlier incestuous attachments, is the primary source of the selective dicho-
and hence to prepare the child for assuming an tomization. Of course in detail the relationship
attachment to an age-mate of opposite sex later. is blurred, but certainly not more so than in a
Seen in this perspective, the socialization great many other fields of comparable analytical
function of the school class assumes a particular complexity.
significance. The socialization functions of the These considerations suggest an interpreta-
family by this time are relatively residual, though tion of some features of the elementary teacher
their importance should not be underestimated. role in American society. The first major step in
But the school remains adult-controlled and, socialization, beyond that in the family, takes
moreover, induces basically the same kind of place in the elementary school, so it seems
identification as was induced by the family in the reasonable to expect that the teacher-figure
child’s pre-oedipal stage. This is to say that the should be characterized by a combination of
learning of achievement-motivation is, psych- similarities to and differences from parental
ologically speaking, a process of identification figures. The teacher, then, is an adult, character-
with the teacher, of doing well in school in order ized by the generalized superiority, which a
 The Sociology of Education 157

parent also has, of adult status relative to chil- “mother” (and future wife), but that the feminine
dren. She is not, however, ascriptively related to role-personality is more complex than that.
her pupils, but is performing an occupational In this connection it may well be that there
role—a role, however, in which the recipients is a relation to the once-controversial issue of
of her services are tightly bound in solidarity to the marriage of women teachers. If the differ-
her and to each other. Furthermore, compared to entiation between what may be called the
a parent’s, her responsibility to them is much maternal and the occupational components of
more universalistic, this being reinforced, as we the feminine role is incomplete and insecure,
saw, by the size of the class; it is also much more confusion between them may be avoided by
oriented to performance rather than to solicitude insuring that both are not performed by the same
for the emotional “needs” of the children. She is persons. The “old maid” teacher of American
not entitled to suppress the distinction between tradition may thus be thought of as having
high and low achievers, just because not being renounced the maternal role in favor of the
able to be included among the high group would occupational.9 Recently, however, the highly
be too hard on little Johnny—however much affective concern over the issue of married
tendencies in this direction appear as deviant women’s teaching has conspicuously abated, and
patterns. A mother, on the other hand, must give their actual participation has greatly increased.
first priority to the needs of her child, regardless It may be suggested that this change is associated
of his capacities to achieve. with a change in the feminine role, the most
It is also significant for the parallel of the conspicuous feature of which is the general social
elementary school class with the family that the sanctioning of participation of women in the
teacher is normally a woman. As background it labor force, not only prior to marriage, but also
should be noted that in most European systems after marriage. This I should interpret as a process
until recently, and often today in our private of structural differentiation in that the same
parochial and non-sectarian schools, the sexes category of persons is permitted and even
have been segregated and each sex group has expected to engage in a more complex set of role-
been taught by teachers of their own sex. Given functions than before.
coeducation, however, the woman teacher The process of identification with the teacher
represents continuity with the role of the which has been postulated here is furthered
mother. Precisely the lack of differentiation in by the fact that in the elementary grades the
the elementary school “curriculum” between the child typically has one teacher, just as in the pre-
components of subject-matter competence and oedipal period he had one parent, the mother,
social responsibility fits in with the greater who was the focus of his object-relations. The
diffuseness of the feminine role. continuity between the two phases is also
But at the same time, it is essential that the favored by the fact that the teacher, like the
teacher is not a mother to her pupils, but must mother, is a woman. But, if she acted only like
insist on universalistic norms and the differential a mother, there would be no genuine reorgan-
reward of achievement. Above all she must be ization of the pupil’s personality system. This
the agent of bringing about and legitimizing a reorganization is furthered by the features of
differentiation of the school class on an achieve- the teacher role which differentiate it from the
ment axis. This aspect of her role is furthered by maternal. One further point is that while a
the fact that in American society the feminine child has one main teacher in each grade, he will
role is less confined to the familial context than usually have a new teacher when he progresses
in most other societies, but joins the masculine to the next higher grade. He is thus accustomed
in occupational and associational concerns, to the fact that teachers are, unlike mothers,
though still with a greater relative emphasis on “interchangeable” in a certain sense. The school
the family. Through identification with their year is long enough to form an important
teacher, children of both sexes learn that the relationship to a particular teacher, but not long
category “woman” is not co-extensive with enough for a highly particularistic attachment to
158 The Sociology of Education

crystallize. More than in the parent–child relatively small. The underlying foundation of
relationship, in school the child must internalize support is given in the home, and as we have
his relation to the teacher’s role rather than her seen, an important supplement to it can be
particular personality; this is a major step in the provided by the informal peer associations of the
internalization of universalistic patterns. child. It may be suggested that the development
of extreme patterns of alienation from the
school is often related to inadequate support in
Socialization and Selection in the
these respects.
Elementary School
Third, there must be a process of selective
To conclude this discussion of the elementary rewarding of valued performance. Here the
school class, something should be said about the teacher is clearly the primary agent, though the
fundamental conditions underlying the process more progressive modes of education attempt to
which is, as we have seen, simultaneously (1) an enlist classmates more systematically than in the
emancipation of the child from primary traditional pattern. This is the process that is the
emotional attachment to his family, (2) an direct source of intra-class differentiation along
internalization of a level of societal values and the achievement axis.
norms that is a step higher than those he can The final condition is that this initial
learn in his family alone, (3) a differentiation of differentiation tends to bring about a status
the school class in terms both of actual system in the class, in which not only the
achievement and of differential valuation of immediate results of school work, but a whole
achievement, and (4) from society’s point of series of influences, converge to consolidate
view, a selection and allocation of its human different expectations which may be thought of
resources relative to the adult role system.10 as the children’s “levels of aspiration.” Generally
Probably the most fundamental condition some differentiation of friendship groups along
underlying this process is the sharing of common this line occurs, though it is important that it is
values by the two adult agencies involved—the by no means complete, and that children are
family and the school. In this case the core is sensitive to the attitudes not only of their own
the shared valuation of achievement. It includes, friends, but of others.
above all, recognition that it is fair to give Within this general discussion of processes
differential reward for different levels of achieve- and conditions, it is important to distinguish, as
ment, so long as there has been fair access to I have attempted to do all along, the socialization
opportunity, and fair that these rewards lead on of the individual from the selective allocation of
to higher-order opportunities for the successful. contingents to future roles. For the individual,
There is thus a basic sense in which the ele- the old familial identification is broken up (the
mentary school class is an embodiment of the family of orientation becomes, in Freudian
fundamental American value of equality of terms, a “lost object”) and a new identification
opportunity, in that it places value both on initial is gradually built up, providing the first-order
equality and on differential achievement. structure of the child’s identity apart from his
As a second condition, however, the rigor originally ascribed identity as son or daughter of
of this valuational pattern must be tempered the “Joneses.” He both transcends his familial
by allowance for the difficulties and needs of the identification in favor of a more independent one
young child. Here the quasi-motherliness of the and comes to occupy a differentiated status
woman teacher plays an important part. Through within the new system. His personal status is
her the school system, assisted by other agencies, inevitably a direct function of the position he
attempts to minimize the insecurity resulting achieves, primarily in the formal school class and
from the pressures to learn, by providing a certain secondarily in the informal peer group structure.
amount of emotional support defined in terms of In spite of the sense in which achievement-
what is due to a child of a given age level. In this ranking takes place along a continuum, I have
respect, however, the role of the school is put forward reasons to suggest that, with respect
 The Sociology of Education 159

to this status, there is an important differen- It is only within this framework of insti-
tiation into two broad, relatively distinct levels, tutionalized solidarity that the crucial selective
and that his position on one or the other enters process goes on through selective rewarding and
into the individual’s definition of his own the consolidation of its results into a status-
identity. To an important degree this process of differentiation within the school class. We have
differentiation is independent of the socio- called special attention to the impact of the
economic status of his family in the community, selective process on the children of relatively
which to the child is a prior ascribed status. high ability but low family status. Precisely in this
When we look at the same system as a selec- group, but pervading school classes generally, is
tive mechanism from the societal point of view, another parallel to what was found in the
some further considerations become important. studies of voting behavior.12 In the voting
First, it may be noted that the valuation of studies it was found that the “shifters”—those
achievement and its sharing by family and voters who were transferring their allegiance
school not only provides the appropriate values from one major party to the other—tended, on
for internalization by individuals, but also the one hand, to be the “cross-pressured” people,
performs a crucial integrative function for the who had multiple status characteristics and group
system. Differentiation of the class along the allegiances which predisposed them simultane-
achievement axis is inevitably a source of strain, ously to vote in opposite directions. The analogy
because it confers higher rewards and privileges in the school class is clearly to the children for
on one contingent than on another within the whom ability and family status do not coincide.
same system. This common valuation helps On the other hand, it was precisely in this group
make possible the acceptance of the crucial of cross-pressured voters that political “indif-
differentiation, especially by the losers in the ference” was most conspicuous. Non-voting was
competition. Here it is an essential point that particularly prevalent in this group, as was a
this common value on achievement is shared by generally cool emotional tone toward a cam-
units with different statuses in the system. It cuts paign. The suggestion is that some of the pupil
across the differentiation of families by socio- “indifference” to school performance may have
economic status. It is necessary that there be a similar origin. This is clearly a complex pheno-
realistic opportunity and that the teacher can be menon and cannot be further analyzed here. But
relied on to implement it by being “fair” and rather than suggesting, as is usual on common
rewarding achievement by whoever shows sense grounds, that indifference to school work
capacity for it. The fact is crucial that the represents an “alienation” from cultural and
distribution of abilities, though correlated with intellectual values, I would suggest exactly the
family status, clearly does not coincide with it. opposite: that an important component of such
There can then be a genuine selective process indifference, including in extreme cases overt
within a set of “rules of the game.” revolt against school discipline, is connected
This commitment to common values is not, with the fact that the stakes, as in politics, are
however, the sole integrative mechanism very high indeed. Those pupils who are exposed
counteracting the strain imposed by differen- to contradictory pressures are likely to be
tiation. Not only does the individual pupil enjoy ambivalent; at the same time, the personal stakes
familial support, but teachers also like and for them are higher than for the others, because
indeed “respect” pupils on bases independent of what happens in school may make much more of
achievement-status, and peer-group friendship a difference for their futures than for the others,
lines, though correlated with position on the in whom ability and family status point to the
achievement scale, again by no means coincide same expectations for the future. In particular for
with it, but cross-cut it. Thus there are cross- the upwardly mobile pupils, too much emphasis
cutting lines of solidarity which mitigate the on school success would pointedly suggest
strains generated by rewarding achievement “burning their bridges” of association with their
differentially.11 families and status peers. This phenomenon
160 The Sociology of Education

seems to operate even in elementary school, persons near and below the margin will tend to
although it grows somewhat more conspicuous be pushed into an attitude of repudiation of these
later. In general I think that an important part expectations. Truancy and delinquency are ways
of the anti-intellectualism in American youth of expressing this repudiation. Thus the very
culture stems from the importance of the selective improvement of educational standards in the
process through the educational system rather society at large may well be a major factor in the
than the opposite. failure of the educational process for a growing
One further major point should be made in number at the lower end of the status and ability
this analysis. As we have noted, the general trend distribution. It should therefore not be too easily
of American society has been toward a rapid assumed that delinquency is a symptom of a
upgrading in the educational status of the general failure of the educational process.
population. This means that, relative to past
expectations, with each generation there is
Differentiation and Selection in
increased pressure to educational achievement,
the Secondary School
often associated with parents’ occupational,
ambitions for their children.13 To a sociologist It will not be possible to discuss the secondary
this is a more or less classical situation of school phase of education in nearly as much
anomic strain, and the youth-culture ideology detail as has been done for the elementary school
which plays down intellectual interests and phase, but it is worthwhile to sketch its main
school performance seems to fit in this context. outline in order to place the above analysis in a
The orientation of the youth culture is, in the wider context. Very broadly we may say that the
nature of the case, ambivalent, but for the elementary school phase is concerned with
reasons suggested, the anti-intellectual side of the the internalization in children of motivation to
ambivalence tends to be overtly stressed. One of achievement, and the selection of persons on the
the reasons for the dominance of the anti-school basis of differential capacity for achievement.
side of the ideology is that it provides a means of The focus is on the level of capacity. In the
protest against adults, who are at the opposite secondary school phase, on the other hand, the
pole in the socialization situation. In certain focus is on the differentiation of qualitative types
respects one would expect that the trend toward of achievement. As in the elementary school,
greater emphasis on independence, which we this differentiation cross-cuts sex role. I should
have associated with progressive education, also maintain that it cross-cuts the levels of
would accentuate the strain in this area and achievement which have been differentiated out
hence the tendency to decry adult expectations. in the elementary phase.
The whole problem should be subjected to a In approaching the question of the types of
thorough analysis in the light of what we know capacity differentiated, it should be kept in mind
about ideologies more generally. that secondary school is the principal spring-
The same general considerations are relevant board from which lower-status persons will
to the much-discussed problem of juvenile enter the labor force, whereas those achieving
delinquency. Both the general upgrading process higher status will continue their formal
and the pressure to enhanced independence education in college, and some of them beyond.
should be expected to increase strain on the Hence for the lower-status pupils the important
lower, most marginal groups. The analysis of this line of differentiation should be the one which
paper has been concerned with the line between will lead into broadly different categories of jobs;
college and non-college contingents; there is, for the higher-status pupils the differentiation
however, another line between those who will lead to broadly different roles in college.
achieve solid non-college educational status and My suggestion is that this differentiation
those for whom adaptation to educational expec- separates those two components of achievement
tations at any level is difficult. As the acceptable which we labelled “cognitive” and “moral” in
minimum of educational qualification rises, discussing the elementary phase. Those relatively
 The Sociology of Education 161

high in “cognitive” achievement will fit better exposed to a wider range of statuses than before,
in specific-function, more or less technical being thrown in with more age-peers whom he
roles; those relatively high in “moral” achieve- does not encounter in his neighborhood; it is less
ment will tend toward diffuser, more “socially” or likely that his parents will know the parents of
“humanly” oriented roles. In jobs not requiring any given child with whom he associates. It is
college training, the one category may be thus my impression that the transitions to junior
thought of as comprising the more impersonal high and senior high school are apt to mean a
and technical occupations, such as “operatives,” considerable reshuffling of friendships. Another
mechanics, or clerical workers; the other, as conspicuous difference between the elementary
occupations where “human relations” are and secondary levels is the great increase in high
prominent, such as salesmen and agents of vari- school of organized extracurricular activities.
ous sorts. At the college level, the differentiation Now, for the first time, organized athletics
certainly relates to concern, on the one hand, become important, as do a variety of clubs and
with the specifically intellectual curricular work associations which are school-sponsored and
of college and, on the other hand, with various supervised to varying degrees.
types of diffuser responsibility in human Two particularly important shifts in the
relations, such as leadership roles in student patterning of youth culture occur in this period.
government and extracurricular activities. One, of course, is the emergence of more positive
Again, candidates for post-graduate professional cross-sex relationships outside the classroom,
training will probably be drawn mainly from the through dances, dating, and the like. The other
first of these two groups. is the much sharper prestige-stratification of
In the structure of the school, there appears informal peer groupings, with indeed an element
to be a gradual transition from the earliest grades of snobbery which often exceeds that of the adult
through high school, with the changes timed community in which the school exists.15 Here it
differently in different school systems. The is important that though there is a broad corres-
structure emphasized in the first part of this pondence between the prestige of friendship
discussion is most clearly marked in the first three groups and the family status of their members,
“primary” grades. With progression to the higher this, like the achievement order of the element-
grades, there is greater frequency of plural ary school, is by no means a simple “mirroring”
teachers, though very generally still a single main of the community stratification scale, for a con-
teacher. In the sixth grade and sometimes in the siderable number of lower-status children get
fifth, a man as main teacher, though uncommon, accepted into groups including members with
is by no means unheard of. With junior high higher family status than themselves. This
school, however, the shift of pattern becomes stratified youth system operates as a genuine
more marked, and still more in senior high. assortative mechanism; it does not simply
By that time the pupil has several different reinforce ascribed status.
teachers of both sexes14 teaching him different The prominence of this youth culture in the
subjects, which are more or less formally organ- American secondary school is, in comparison
ized into different courses—college preparatory with other societies, one of the hallmarks of the
and others. Furthermore, with the choice of American educational system; it is much less
“elective” subjects, the members of the class prominent in most European systems. It may be
in one subject no longer need be exactly the said to constitute a kind of structural fusion
same as in another, so the pupil is much more between the school class and the peer-group
systematically exposed to association with structure of the elementary period. It seems
different people, both adults and age-peers, clear that what I have called the “human
in different contexts. Moreover, the school he relations” oriented contingent of the secondary
attends is likely to be substantially larger than school pupils are more active and prominent in
was his elementary school, and to draw from a extracurricular activities, and that this is one of
wider geographical area. Hence the child is the main foci of their differentiation from the
162 The Sociology of Education

more impersonally- and technically-oriented undertones of much intensive same-sex

contingent. The personal qualities figuring most friendship, and of a certain “irresponsibility” in
prominently in the human relations contingent attitudes toward the opposite sex—e.g., the
can perhaps be summed up as the qualities that exploitative element in the attitudes of boys
make for “popularity.” I suggest that, from the toward girls. This, however, is by no means the
point of view of the secondary school’s selective whole story. The youth culture is also a field for
function, the youth culture helps to differentiate practicing the assumption of higher-order
between types of personalities which will, by and responsibilities, for conducting delicate human
large, play different kinds of roles as adults. relations without immediate supervision and
The stratification of youth groups has, as learning to accept the consequences. In this
noted, a selective function; it is a bridge between connection it is clearly of particular importance
the achievement order and the adult stratifi- to the contingent we have spoken of as
cation system of the community. But it also has specializing in “human relations.”
another function. It is a focus of prestige which We can, perhaps, distinguish three different
exists along side of, and is to a degree inde- levels of crystallization of these youth-culture
pendent of, the achievement order focussing on patterns. The middle one is that which may be
school work as such. The attainment of prestige considered age-appropriate without clear
in the informal youth group is itself a form of status-differentiation. The two keynotes here
valued achievement. Hence, among those seem to be “being a good fellow” in the sense of
individuals destined for higher status in society, general friendliness and being ready to take
one can discern two broad types: those whose responsibility in informal social situations where
school work is more or less outstanding and something needs to be done. Above this, we may
whose informal prestige is relatively satisfactory; speak of the higher level of “outstanding”
and vice versa, those whose informal prestige is popularity and qualities of “leadership” of the
outstanding, and school performance satis- person who is turned to where unusual respon-
factory. Falling below certain minima in either sibilities are required. And below the middle
respect would jeopardize the child’s claim to level are the youth patterns bordering on
belong in the upper group.16 It is an important delinquency, withdrawal, and generally un-
point here that those clearly headed for college acceptable behavior. Only this last level is
belong to peer groups which, while often clearly “regressive” relative to expectations
depreciative of intensive concern with studies, of appropriate behavior for the age grade. In
also take for granted and reinforce a level of judging these three levels, however, allowance
scholastic attainment which is necessary for should be made for a good many nuances. Most
admission to a good college. Pressure will be put adolescents do a certain amount of experiment-
on the individual who tends to fall below such a ing with the borderline of the unacceptable
standard. patterns; that they should do so is to be expected
In discussing the elementary school level it in view of the pressure toward independence
will be remembered that we emphasized that from· adults, and of the “collusion” which can
the peer group served as an object of emotional be expected in the reciprocal stimulation of
dependency displaced from the family. In rela- age-peers. The question is whether this regressive
tion to the pressure for school achievement, behavior comes to be confirmed into a major
therefore, it served at least partially as an expres- pattern for the personality as a whole. Seen in
sion of the lower-order motivational system out this perspective, it seems legitimate to maintain
of which the child was in process of being that the middle and the higher patterns indicated
socialized. On its own level, similar things can be are the major ones, and that only a minority of
said of the adolescent youth culture; it is in part adolescents comes to be confirmed in a truly
an expression of regressive motivations. This is unacceptable pattern of living. This minority
true of the emphasis on athletics despite its lack may well be a relatively constant proportion of
of relevance to adult roles, of the “homosexual” the age cohort, but apart from situations of
 The Sociology of Education 163

special social disorganization, the available Conclusion

evidence does not suggest that it has been a With the general cultural upgrading process in
progressively growing one in recent years. American society which has been going on for
The patterning of cross-sex relations in the more than a century, the educational system
youth culture dearly foreshadows future marriage has come to play an increasingly vital role. That
and family formation. That it figures so this should be the case is, in my opinion, a
prominently in school is related to the fact that consequence of the general trend to structural
in our society the element of ascription, differentiation in the society. Relatively speak-
including direct parental influence, in the choice ing, the school is a specialized agency. That it
of a marriage partner is strongly minimized. For should increasingly have become the principal
the girl, it has the very important significance channel of selection as well as agency of social-
of reminding her that her adult status is going ization is in line with what one would expect in
to be very much concerned with marriage and an increasingly differentiated and progressively
a family. This basic expectation for the girl more upgraded society. The legend of the “self-
stands in a certain tension to the school’s made man” has an element of nostalgic roman-
curricular coeducation with its relative lack of ticism and is destined to become increasingly
differentiation by sex. But the extent to which mythical, if by it is meant not just mobility from
the feminine role in American society continues humble origins to high status, which does indeed
to be anchored in marriage and the family should continue to occur, but that the high status was
not be allowed to obscure the importance of attained through the “school of hard knocks”
coeducation. In the first place, the contribution without the aid of formal education.
of women in various extra-familial occupations The structure of the public school system
and in community affairs has been rapidly and the analysis of the ways in which it contri-
increasing, and certainly higher levels of butes both to the socialization of individuals
education have served as a prerequisite to this and to their allocation to roles in society is,
contribution. At the same time, it is highly I feel, of vital concern to all students of Ameri-
important that the woman’s familial role can society. Notwithstanding the variegated
should not be regarded as drastically segregated elements in the situation, I think it has been
from the cultural concerns of the society as a possible to sketch out a few major structural
whole. The educated woman has important patterns of the public school system and at least
functions as wife and mother, particularly as an to suggest some ways in which they serve these
influence on her children in backing the schools important functions. What could be presented
and impressing on them the importance of in this paper is the merest outline of such an
education. It is, I think, broadly true that the analysis. It is, however, hoped that it has been
immediate responsibility of women for family carried far enough to suggest a field of vital
management has been increasing, though I am mutual interest for social scientists on the one
very skeptical of the alleged “abdication” of the hand and those concerned with the actual
American male. But precisely in the context of operation of the schools on the other.
women’s increased family responsibility, the
influence of the mother both as agent of social-
ization and as role model is a crucial one. This Notes
influence should be evaluated in the light of the * I am indebted to Mrs. Carolyn Cooper for
general upgrading process. It is very doubtful research assistance in the relevant literature
whether, apart from any other considerations, and for editorial work on the first draft of this
the motivational prerequisites of the general paper.
process could be sustained without sufficiently
1 The principal source for these statements is a study
high education of the women who, as mothers, of social mobility among boys in ten public high
influence their children. schools in the Boston metropolitan area, conducted
by Samuel A. Stouffer, Florence R. Kluckhohn, and
164 The Sociology of Education

the present author. Unfortunately the material is 9 It is worth noting that the Catholic parochial
not available in published form. school system is in line with the more general
2 See table from this study in J. A. Kahl, The older American tradition, in that the typical
American Class Structure (New York: Rinehart & teacher is a nun. The only difference in this
Co., 1953), p. 283. Data from a nationwide sample respect is the sharp religious symbolization of the
of high school students, published by the Educa- difference between mother and teacher.
tional Testing Service, show similar patterns of 10 The following summary is adapted from T.
relationships. For example, the ETS study shows Parsons, R. F. Bales et al., Family, Socialization and
variation, by father’s occupation, in proportion Interaction Process (Glencoe, Ill.: The Free Press,
of high school seniors planning college, of from 1955). esp. chap. iv.
35 per cent to 80 per cent for boys and 27 per cent 11 In this, as in several other respects, there is a
to 79 per cent for girls. (From Background Factors parallel to other important allocative processes in
Related to College Plans and College Enrollment the society. A striking example is the voting
among High School Students [Princeton, N. J.: process by which political support is allocated
Educational Testing Service, 1957]). between party candidates. Here, the strain arises
3 There seem to be two main reasons why the high- from the fact that one candidate and his party
status, low-ability group is not so important as its will come to enjoy all the perquisites—above all
obverse. The first is that in a society of expanding the power—of office, while the other will be
educational and occupational opportunity the excluded for the time being from these. This strain
general trend is one of upgrading, and the social is mitigated, on the one hand, by the common
pressures to downward mobility are not as great as commitment to constitutional procedure, and, on
they would otherwise be. The second is that there the other hand, by the fact that the nonpolitical
are cushioning mechanisms which tend to protect bases of social solidarity, which figure so promi-
the high status boy who has difficulty “making the nently as determinants of voting behavior, still cut
grade.” He may be sent to a college with low across party lines. The average person is, in various
academic standards, he may go to schools where of his roles, associated with people whose political
the line between ability levels is not rigorously preference is different from his own; he therefore
drawn, etc. could not regard the opposite party as composed
4 This discussion refers to public schools. Only of unmitigated scoundrels without introducing a
about 13 per cent of all elementary and secondary rift within the groups to which he is attached. This
school pupils attend non-public schools, with this feature of the electorate’s structure is brought out
proportion ranging from about 22 per cent in the strongly in B. R. Berelson, P. F. Lazarsfeld and
Northeast to about 6 per cent in the South. U. S. W. N. McPhee, Voting (Chicago: University of
Office of Education, Biennial Survey of Education Chicago Press, 1954). The conceptual analysis
in the United States, 1954–56 (Washington: U. S. of it is developed in my own paper, “‘Voting’ and
Government Printing Office, 1959), chap. ii, the Equilibrium of the American Political
“Statistics of State School Systems, l955–56,” System” in E. Burdick and A. J. Brodbeck (eds.),
Table 44, p. 114. American Voting Behavior (Glencoe, Ill.: The Free
5 In 1955–56, 13 per cent of the public elementary Press, 1959).
school instructional staff in the United States 12 Ibid.
were men. Ibid., p. 7. 13 J. A. Kahl, “Educational and Occupational
6 This summary of some contrasts between Aspirations of ‘Common Man’ Boys,” Harvard
traditional and progressive patterns is derived Educational Review, XXIII (Summer, 1953), pp.
from general reading in the literature rather than 186–203.
any single authoritative account. 14 Men make up about half (49 per cent) of the
7 This account of the two components of ele- public secondary school instructional staff.
mentary school achievement and their relation Biennial Survey of Education in the United States,
summarizes impressions gained from the literature, 1954–56, op. cit., chap. ii, p. 7.
rather than being based on the opinions of 15 See, for instance, C. W. Gordon, The Social
particular authorities. I have the impression that System of the High School: A Study in the Sociology
achievement in this sense corresponds closely to of Adolescence (Glencoe, Ill.: The Free Press,
what is meant by the term as used by McClelland 1957).
and his associates. Cf. D. C. McClelland et al., The 16 J. Riley, M. Riley, and M. Moore, “Adolescent
Achievement Motive (New York: Appleton- Values and the Riesman Typology” in S. M. Lipset
Century-Crofts, Inc., 1953). and L. Lowenthal (eds.), The Sociology of Culture
8 On the identification process in the family see my and the Analysis of Social Character (Glencoe, Ill.:
paper, “Social Structure and the Development of The Free Press, to be published in 1960).
Personality,” Psychiatry, XXI (November, 1958),
pp. 321–40.